# Streets of Laredo (1995)

> A retired Texas Ranger turned bounty hunter is hired by a rail baron to track down a young rifle-wielding killer named Joey Garza.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/41112

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 3
- Episode runtime: 125 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: western, drama
- Created by: Larry McMurtry
- Cast: James Garner, Sissy Spacek, Sam Shepard, Ned Beatty, Randy Quaid, Wes Studi, Charles Martin Smith, George Carlin
- TMDB rating: 7.2/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112041/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: brutal
- Tone: elegiac, gritty, melancholic, tense, reflective

## What critics say

Critics were divided on this Western miniseries, with its sprawling western scale and performances respected while its uneven handling of the manhunt drew mixed reactions.

## Synopsis

Streets of Laredo (1995) is a American western miniseries created by Larry McMurtry. Captain Woodrow Call, now retired from the Rangers, is a bounty hunter played by James Garner, who is hired by an eastern rail baron to track down Joey Garza, a boy who kills from a distance with a rifle. Alexis Cruz plays the elusive young killer, while Sissy Spacek appears as Lorena, Sam Shepard as Pea Eye Parker, and Ned Beatty as Judge Roy Bean in a cast that gives the hunt a rich ensemble texture. The engine of the story is the chase itself: a grizzled lawman who knows the frontier well must pursue a child whose skill with a rifle makes him dangerous, while the people around him wrestle with money, loyalty, and the cost of violence. Told across three long episodes that run about two hours each, this limited series unfolds at a deliberate pace. Its tone is elegiac and dusty, a reflective look at the end of the old frontier that sits somewhere between a hard-edged manhunt and a sorrowful character study. Set in the post civil war American Old West, it is a literary western in the vein of Lonesome Dove, with the revisionist moral weight of Unforgiven and the sprawling frontier scope of Deadwood. Fans of hard, character-driven westerns will find much to savor here.

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